


Out Of Ashes

by EnchantedbookLover18



Category: NCIS
Genre: 17x14 On Fire, Ashes by Céline Dion, Ellicksongchallenge, Emotional Hurt, F/M, Training, Week 3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-24
Updated: 2020-06-24
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:20:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,911
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24893803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EnchantedbookLover18/pseuds/EnchantedbookLover18
Summary: Nick is still in surgery after the hit-and-run. Ellie told McGee she'd go to the office after he could "convince" her not to kill Xavier. But what did she really do? And where did she go?
Relationships: Ellie Bishop & Nick Torres, Ellie Bishop/Nick Torres
Comments: 7
Kudos: 36
Collections: The Missing Episodes





	Out Of Ashes

**Author's Note:**

> A late submission for Week 3!!
> 
> #Ellicksongchallenge Week 3: Song from a movie soundtrack -> Ashes by Céline Dion (Deadpool 2)  
> #MissingEpisodesChallenge Prompt 3: Training with Odette
> 
> P.S. This might be weird, I don't know😂

Out Of Ashes

**_“Hey, you can’t be serious,” McGee yelled, trying to keep up with her._ **

**_“Oh yeah. Why is that?” Ellie turned around, furious._ **

**_“Because assassinating the bad guy is sort of a no-no.” The Senior Field Agent said, still not believing that Ellie actually meant it._ **

**_“So is letting him walk away and live his life happily ever after,” Ellie got angrier with each second surrounded by these hospital walls and the typical smell, always reminding her of Nick laying in this bed attached to various machines keeping him alive._ **

**_“Bishop, you were in a car accident, okay? You’re not thinking straight. And listen I wanna get this guy as much as you do-” McGee tried to reason with her, she could not possibly…_ **

**_“Then move!” Ellie interrupted, trying to shove him out of the way._ **

**_He held her back, not letting her walk past him. This had to stop. “But I don’t wanna spend the next forty years of my life in Leavenworth.”_ **

**_“Why are you even assuming I would get caught?” Ellie asked daringly._ **

**_“Why are we even having this conversation?” Tim sighed. This wasn’t going anywhere. Maybe Kasie was right, Bishop did take it a little differently than the others._ **

**_“Look. I just can’t let Xavier leave this country, Tim. I just can’t.” The blonde almost begged him to understand._ **

**_“I understand that. But we will find a way to keep him here. Vance just-”_ **

**_“We are all out of options. You just said it yourself two minutes ago.”_ **

**_“That was before you flipped out and said you were gonna kill a guy.” McGee practically yelled, his patience wearing thin._ **

**_“Could you say it a little louder?!?” Ellie hissed._ **

**_“You think Torres would be happy with you doing this?” McGee knew this was a low blow but he had to stop Ellie from doing something majorly stupid._ **

**_Ellie blinked. “I don’t think Torres gets a vote.”_ **

**_“Well what about when he wakes up?”_ **

**_“You mean if he wakes up?” Ellie challenged; she couldn’t deal with this any longer. She had to do something._ **

Ellie kept reliving the conversation with McGee in the hospital in her head. She’d meant it when she’d first said it. She wanted to kill Xavier. Kill him for what he’d done to Nick. Nick…Ellie’s heart shattered. He was still in surgery. Nick – her partner, her best friend – could die.

Ellie sighed deeply as she started the engine of her car. She may have told McGee that she was going to the office but she had something…different in her mind. Maybe she couldn’t kill Xavier but she couldn’t just sit around and do nothing – go through useless stacks of paper that wouldn’t contain any helpful information to hold Xavier in the US – either.

Ellie stopped the car on the side of the quiet road and walked down the small path leading around the main house to the small cabin in the backyard. Before she could reach for the locket, a voice behind her made her turn around, startled.

“Eleanor, I didn’t expect you here today – _this_ late,” the older woman called out, surprise evident in her tone.

“I know. Um…I – I have to do something. Give my hands something to do. Distract my mind. So… I don’t kill a guy,” Ellie blurted out. She was still fuming with rage even after half an hour drive from the hospital.

Odette’s brows furrowed. “Okay. So, we’ll start your training now. And you can tell me what happened.” She started walking back towards the house, then turned around once more beckoning Ellie to follow her lead.

_What's left to say?_

_These prayers ain't working anymore_

_Every word shot down in flames_

_What's left to do with these broken pieces on the floor?_

_I'm losing my voice calling on you_

“Nick. My partner. He’s in the hospital. Struggling for his life. I’m fighting the urge to kill the guy who’s responsible.” Ellie summed up the last twenty-four hours as she followed Odette through the big house towards a closed double door.

“You look pretty beaten up yourself. I assume you were with him when it happened?” Odette took a quick glance at Ellie while she opened the big wooden doors.

Ellie balled her hands into fists. “Hit-and-run. Nick and I were out for our usual morning run in the neighbourhood when we were hit by a car. Nick shoved me out of the way and took the full blow. I didn’t think he had this kind of superhero-strength. He could’ve died. He still might.”

“Hm. And you’ve found out who the driver was and now you wanna kill him,” Odette asserted nonchalantly as if talking about murdering people was nothing. Well, she had trained with Ziva. She was probably used to this. Besides, Odette was former CIA, too. “Your boss can’t be too happy about that.”  
“Gibbs has his own skeletons in the closet,” the blonde murmured.

_'Cause I've been shaking_

_I've been bending backwards till I'm broke_

_Watching all these dreams go up in smoke_

“ _This_ is it, huh.” She turned to take a look around the room. One side was prepped with mirrors – like a ballet studio. In the right corner, Ellie found punching bags and rather gym-typical strength training equipment. But something on the far-left side caught her eye. All kinds of weapons – knives, swords, daggers, machetes, axes, brass knuckles and other kinds of weapons still unknown to Ellie – were hung up on the wall. “Bow and arrow? A boomerang?” Ellie turned around to face Odette, one eyebrow raised in bemusement.

“You have to learn how to fight with _anything_.” The other woman pointed out. “Not just fist fights and using a gun.”

“Hm-hm.” Ellie had a small smile on her lips. This reminded her of a Robin-Hood-Green-Arrow type of movie. If Nick were here, he’d make all kinds of bad jokes…But Nick was still laying in the hospital, unconscious.

“Go ahead,” Odette nodded in the direction of the wall of weapons, putting Ellie out of her daze. “Start with throwing knives at the wood target over there. Show me what ya got.”

\----

They’d been at it for two hours; throwing knives, push-ups, lifting weights, hitting the punching bag. In between the sounds of her punches at the bag and her heavy breathing, Ellie’s phone rang.

_Let beauty come out of ashes_

_Let beauty come out of ashes_

_And when I pray to God all I ask is_

_Can beauty come out of ashes?_

She took a step back from the punching bag and leaned down to look at it. McGee. Ugh, Ellie sighed and placed it back on top of her jacket. She couldn’t deal with him right now. The doctor had already called her thirty minutes ago, at the same time McGee had send her a text from the hospital, to inform her that Special Agent Nick Torres had made it through surgery but the next few hours would still be critical. Although he was out of immediate danger, they still didn’t know if and when Nick would wake up again. But McGee wasn’t calling her because of Nick, no. Tim had already sent her at least ten messages, asking where she was and if she was alright after Ellie’d shortly replied to his update on Nick’s condition.

Ellie stood up and came to a halt in front of the punching bag. Taking slow, shallow breaths, she prepared herself to hit the heavy bag again with a left jab that made a resounding slap as she sent it flying back. Ellie let the punches fly over and over again with the technique Odette had just taught her until she could feel the sweat run down her spine.

_Can you use these tears to put out the fires in my soul?_

_'Cause I need you here, woah_

Her mind was running wild. She kept replaying the moment the grey Lamborghini hit them on the road over and over again. And the sight of Nick, looking so small and fragile, in the hospital bed never left her thoughts. Ellie felt sick to her stomach and she knew then and there that she was losing control.

She stopped hitting the bag, breathing heavily, her hands were shaking. “I almost lost him.”

Odette, who had been holding the bag for Ellie after her first punches, paused and let go of the punching bag. Concern crossed her face as she took a look at the blonde agent.

“I could’ve lost him today. I – I can’t –” Ellie whispered hoarsely, hands on her knees, slowly leaning over. “I can’t go through this again. Jake. Qasim. Clay. Not Nick. I can’t lose him too. I just – can’t –”

_'Cause I've been shaking_

_I've been bending backwards till I'm broke_

_Watching all these dreams go up in smoke_

She’d already lost her husband. While he had cheated on her and she’d divorced Jake afterwards, Ellie had still lost him. The first man she’d ever loved. And Qasim – sweet, loving Qasim. Her almost-fiancé who had been killed in a drive-by shooting carried out by Jintao. Ellie had been bending over backwards to make things work with Jake after transitioning to NCIS until she’d found out about his affair. She’d done everything in her power – risked her career, her life – to exact revenge against Chen, the man who had ordered Qasim’s murder. She’d watched her future go up in smoke after her boyfriend’s death. And then Clay…Fearless, strong, caring, _British_ Clay. Her best friend. The only person who had always provided her with weird snacks without even blinking an eye. Until Nick…

Ellie sat down on the floor. Out of a sudden, all strength leaving her body. The walls were closing in on her and she felt as if she was suffocating. “I can’t. I just can’t go through this again.”

Odette crouched down beside her, placing a hand on Ellie’s shoulder in comfort. She’d known the minute she’d looked Ellie in the eye that the blonde could barely hold it together. Odette wasn’t surprised that hitting a few punches at a bag and throwing some knives would only put her feelings – her suffering, her grief, her worry – on hold. It could only distract Ellie from the pain and fear for a little while. Until it came back hitting her full force. “Shush. Shush. Breathe, Eleanor.”

_Let beauty come out of ashes_

_Let beauty come out of ashes_

_And when I pray to God all I ask is_

_Can beauty come out of ashes?_

“I’ve lost almost every single man in my life that ever mattered something to me,” Ellie mumbled, her voice sounded hollow. Tears began streaming down her cheeks as she went on between hiccups. “I won’t let it happen again. I have to be stronger. I need to learn how to defend myself – better than I know now – and my partners in the field. I have to learn – and you have to teach me. Make me a better agent and a better fighter, Odette. _Please_.”

“I will make you an even better fighter than you already are. I promised Ziva that I would give you anything you need, and I will. And I give you specialized training, we won’t stop at fighting techniques…” Odette stated as she got up and held out a hand for Ellie. The blonde took it and got herself off the floor again. “Let’s do this.”

_Can beauty come out of ashes?_


End file.
